Soul man keeps it real

Andrew Drever

CHET Faker doesn't believe his own hype. The Melbourne producer (real name Nick Murphy, not to be confused with the Melbourne singer-songwriter of the same name), isn't popping any champagne corks just yet, even though he has just returned from playing a hyped-up six shows at Austin's South by Southwest music festival.

Those performances got terrific attention at Austin, as did another US show he did at the Aussie BBQ in Los Angeles, further consolidating the 22-year-old's sudden blog-darling status in the US. But new rewards have suddenly drowned that out: selling out two forthcoming shows at Melbourne's the Toff in Town (a third has been added), airplay on British radio from leading British tastemakers Mary-Anne Hobbs (Xfm) and BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe and Rob da Bank, and his I'm Into You becoming the most popular track on influential US blog aggregator website The Hype Machine.

"It's amazing," Murphy says, "but I think there is such a thing as negative hype. I don't know if I'm there yet but things are going so well that I'm almost getting a bit sceptical. I started doing this music a year ago and it's been a pretty big year. I feel as though I've worked hard at this and I'm grateful for the opportunities, but I also think that the faster you rise, the faster you fall."

Murphy's cover of Blackstreet's 1996 hip-hop classic No Diggity became an internet sensation last year and he has now released his stunning seven-track debut EP, Thinking in Textures.

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Reviewers have struggled to classify Thinking in Textures' tender electronic songs about loss, lust and longing, so ''post-dubstep'', ''future beat'' and ''electro-soul'' have all been bandied around. Murphy, who has played in bands (Atlas Murphy, Sunday Kicks, the Knicks) but also been a reveller at Melbourne club nights, says he failed at making uptempo dance music.

"I tried for so long to make house music," he says. "That's what I wanted to do. It took me a long while to figure out that I may as well just slow it down and do what I feel comfortable with. I like to call it soul music because the vocal melody is the first thing I start with, but you could also call it electronic soul."

Chet Faker plays the Toff in Town on April 19, and two sold-out shows at the Toff on April 21-22.